A Reason to Stay
by Shiggity Shwa
Summary: MY FIRST ONESHOT! SQUEE! When Kate gets the final spot on the raft, Jack becomes angry and persuasive. Rated M for sniggity-wiggity


_Yay! I wrote a new story! Well it's not really a story, it's my very first one-shot! Huzzah! You guys! So anyways this story had so many working titles, Kate and Jack's boinketty adventure, Hey it's glomp time, Boffing to the tenth degree, Knocking Boots and so forth. It's actually called 'Glomp' on my computer lol, but I decided to give it a more elegant title.  
And since many of you were asking, no I didn't name my egg baby 'Nike', because alas I didn't give birth to a girl! I had a premature boy who weighed 4lbs, that I named Liam Ari Benedict (Benedict because that's what I'm turning him into when this project is over)_

_  
_**This is dedicated to a dear friend, Amanda, or Manda as she is sometimes called. I hope this was of somewhat an inspiration for your enthralling and spine tingling 'Water Fall' scene. I'm desperately awaiting it's creation.**

**_Disclaimer: I don't own them. If I did then hey I'd be racking in the cash, I wouldn't have to go to school and write stupid essays and I could live in a big mansion in Hawaii getting Swedish body massages by a blonde haired, blue-eyed boy named 'Sven'…or even better 'Yuri'. _**

A Reason to Stay

The fire slowly curled in the blended darkness of the jungle background behind it. The flames moved upwards, as if reaching for some up in the night sky, like a child standing in front of a refrigerator stretching for the jar of cookies located on the top.

It was colder then it had previously been on the island, which could mean only one thing; that the dreaded hurricane season was coming. The tropical trees and plants swayed with a stronger wind, making rustling sounds that Jack had long come to ignore.

He sighed as adjusted himself on the ground by the fire, it was his turn to watch it, to make sure it didn't go out during the night. It had only recently decided that the fire should be watched at all time, so matches and lighters were preserved. In other words, they'd all given up hope on being rescued.

All except Michael and his crew of dreamers as Charlie called them. They had never ceased to give up the idea of not being rescued, of being able to forget the life they had before the island. He had told Kate on their second or third day on the island that every single one of them died on that plane crash, that they all got to start over. That he wasn't Dr. Jack Sheppard, the newly divorced, thirty-on year old, who had driven his father to kill himself.

_Kate_, Jack thought briefly, she had been trying to get her way on the raft for the last few days. It was only yesterday morning that she had been successful; Sun had fallen down a small trench twisting her ankle lightly. Jin flew in from the beach and never left her side, rambling stuff to her in Korean as Jack bandaged up her ankle. He had told Sun that he wasn't leaving her, and suddenly his place on the raft became open, and quickly filled by Kate, who had much to offer.

Jack was dismayed by this fact; many things about it troubled him. The fact that four of his friends were leaving, none of them with medical knowledge to his understanding. Walt was going who was only ten, who had already lost his mom, if something happened to Michael, he'd be orphaned. What seemed to bother him the most was Sawyer, he got to be on the raft, with Kate.

He shook his head trying to rid them of the ideas that ran through his brain's tributaries. Kate wasn't his wife, or his girlfriend and he had no authority over her in anyway. But he worried about her because she was the closest friend he had made on this island, he didn't want to see her go.

_That was the only reason_, he thought as he watched the fire enthrallingly. He'd miss her because she was nice to have around, not because of her emerald-gray eyes that he could stare into and forget the world's burdens, or because of her gorgeous smile that he swore he could see every time he closed his eyes, or even of the her skin looked so soft and seemed to be luminous in the moonlight.

_Alright,_ he shouted at himself as his eyes shot open so he was fully awake, and could fully comprehend his thoughts, _so okay, so she's somewhat easy on the eyes,_ he explained to himself, _but that has nothing to do with it. _

He leaned back against a log for support as he closed his eyes momentarily, and found his mind drifting back to yesterday. He had gone to the beach to deliver water, it had been Sawyer's job that week to come and get it, but Jack knew he never would. Glancing over, he saw Kate, sitting in the blazing sunlight of the late morning, her feet placed where the waves washed away the sand. She was sinking again.

He saved her bottle for last, and when the time came, he slowly padded through the sand, leaving engravings from his boots as he walked. He slumped down beside her, landing in the sand, and she sent him that smile he expected, the one that always looked forced.

"I brought you your water," Jack explained as he handed her the two bottles, she grabbed one in each hand and drilled them softly into the sand on her other side.

"I thought it was Sawyer's week to get the water?" she questioned as she looked back out the mesmerizing horizon.

"Yeah, but he never came to do it," Jack huffed angrily as he shifted to look out to the ocean as well. No matter how many times he stared out with her, he never seemed to get the same result as her. It seemed to be a form of medication to her, to relax her. But to jack, all it did was remind him about what had happened.

"Maybe that's because he knows you'll do it," Kate replied with a sly smirk.

Jack was pressured himself to think of a comeback, but couldn't and chuckled instead, he knew she was correct.

"I'm leaving Jack," she suddenly said, her voice slightly above a whisper.

"Huh?" he asked, not understanding the meaning of her statement. He draped his hands over his knees, letting the wind blow through the spaces between each finger, "What do you mean?"

She bowed her head and looked at the sodden sand for a few seconds, then back up to meet his hazel eyes, "I'm leaving on the raft, in two days," Jack's face fell, "Jin wants to stay with Sun, and they need a fou…"

Jack scoffed, "Unbelievable," Jack muttered as he pushed himself up off the ground. He dusted off the remaining grains harshly, with forceful swift hand movements. Trying to channel his anger.

* * *

"Jack?" Kate asked questioningly, like she had when he first saw the mirage of his father on the island after her boar hunt. That unsure, yet calm voice as her eyebrows furrowed in puzzlement. Jack didn't answer; he just set his jaw with anger, and marched away from her. Leaving her twisted in the sand watching him trudge through the lush foliage and back to the caves. 

"Jack?" a voice asked delicately, a soft, cool hand was on his cheek, it was cooling him, the temperature, and he realized that he had been sweating, "Jack are you okay?" the voice asked again.

He slipped his exhausted eyes open seeing Kate's form being outlined by the dying fire. He pushed away from her and moved up so his back leaned against the log, "What do you want?" he demanded, trying to sound suave though his heart was pounding.

"Well I came up to talk to you," Kate began as she sat next to him, "And I remember vaguely, Sayid mentioning that you were on fire duty this week, and your fire was almost out when I got up here," she motioned to the now roaring fire, "I put more wood on it."

"Kate you shouldn't have walked up here alone in the middle of the night when we still don't know what's out there," he reprimanded angrily, then held her eyes and exclaimed, "And I don't want to talk Kate," he huffed at her nerve. He moved to get up but her hand gently wrapped around his bicep. He turned back and glared at her.

"Jack I'm leaving tomorrow and chances are you'll never see me again," Kate enlightened softly, her voice holding serenity and sincerity.

"Why, because most of the rest of your life is going to be spent in an eight by ten cell?" he asked harshly as he sat back down, hoping to make her storm off.

Kate shook her head, her silky hair waving from side to side, "We both know that the chance of Michael actually getting us to an inhabited area is slim to none," she admitted. She lowered her head to stare at the rough, unkind ground of the caves and kept her eyes on the tiny pebbles as she waited for Jack's response, bracing herself.

Jack was shocked, she very clearly knew of the outcome, now he had little or no chance of bartering with her, "Then why go Kate? It's suicidal."

"Because if we don't try, we'll never know what could've been," she answered, turning to him, her dark hair turned softer and lightened by the burning fire. Her eyes held so much feeling, excitement, anxiousness, nervousness, regret, remorse, fear.

"Why you Kate?" Jack asked looking directly into her eyes, "Why does it have to be you?" There was more then three dozen people on this island, one of them certainly had to have more skeletons in their closet then her.

"Because," she whispered quietly, just over the crackling of the fire. She turned to it, staring at it, enchanted like Jack had been earlier. She took her time, her face

indecisive, trying to choose whether or not to continue, "I deserve it," she finally added.

"Kate," Jack tried to speak calmly but his rage was boiling inside of him, "This is no time to go and seek penance."

"No one else deserves it, Jack," her voice rising slightly, "If I had it my way, I'd be the only one going on the raft. I need to pay for what I've done," she paused glaring at him, "One way or another."

"Locke killed Boone," Jack stated simply, "Charlie killed Ethan, I killed the Marshal," he reminded slowly, staring at the fire as Kate watched him intently, "Why don't we have to go? Why don't we feel penitent?"

"Locke killing Boone was an accident, Charlie killing Ethan was for protection, and you killing the Marshal was for pity," she whispered as she gathered her legs towards her chest, "I don't fall into any of those categories."

Jack sighed and placed his hand over his eyes, trying to wipe away the sleepless nights he'd had experienced recently, "Kate it doesn't matter to any of us," he declared.

Kate turned toward him; she sighed in annoyance and sternly asked, "What do you want from me Jack?"

He abruptly looked directly at her, "What do you mean?" Wondering what she was insinuating.

"Why won't you let me go?" she asked her voice shaking like the question was physically paining her, "Why can't you let me go?"

"What do you mean? I can let you go anytime, I'm just trying to talk you out of killing yourself," he stated viperously, keeping a seemingly callous exterior.

"Is that why you're worried about me every minute of the day, stalking out into the jungle to follow me, watching me like I watch you? It's that really what it's all about Jack?" She asked stoically, "You're just trying to stop me from being another crossed out name on the manifest?"

He scoffed and looked at her, her face pleading with him to say something. He sighed and ran a hand over his hair which had grown in some, "You can go Kate," he said in defeat, "And I'm not going to stop you."

Kate bit her bottom lip and nodded her head as the impatient tears gathered over her eyes, she stood, placing her hands on the ground and lifted herself up, her arms shaking.

As she began to take steps to the trail that led to the beach, Jack called out, "But I don't want you to go."

She turned around and walked back to him slowly, examining his face, searching for any shred of honesty. Jack smiled at her, his heart beating like the drumbeat of an upbeat tempo song.

She looked into his eyes, searching still for some sign, staring so intensely that she almost created a translucent, magnetic hold. Not breaking her eye contact, she began to speak, "Then give me a reason to stay." She spoke slowly, making sure that Jack understood each word that floated from her mouth in the near darkness.

Without thinking, like the response was programmed in his system since birth, he leaned his head down, and captured her lips in one swift movement. It was a weak, but surprising kiss, which made Kate pause for a minute before she responded.

After a moment she began to kiss him back, sliding one of her cool hands around his broad neck, feeling the warmth of his skin tingle under her fingertips. He pulled closer to her, slithering his large hand around the curvy outline of her waist. She gasped against his lips when one of his fiery fingers pressed against the modicum of skin that lay uncovered by her clothes.

She pulled away slightly her face still inches from his, as she looked up into his eyes, detecting what she needed to see. Jack also saw something change in her, he couldn't pinpoint what it was exactly, he could only describe it as being like a helium filling balloon drifting slowly up into the night sky. She was letting go.

She leaned up and pressed her lips against his once again, they were warm and meaningful. They moved over hers gracefully, claiming each in of her lips, releasing her from the burden of her past.

She parted her lips and allowed him to deepen the kiss, never feeling closer to anyone before. She wrapped a cool arm around his neck pushing her body closer to his, her other hand was pressed against the sinewy muscles in his back.

Jack moved his hand completely under her shirt, burning it to the small of her back. She moaned in pleasure from his warmth, arching her body against his, feeling the heat from his body, transferring into her, making her want him more, lust after him more. No it was a feeling more then lust. A feeling she seldom felt anymore, it was love.

He moved his lips from hers; beginning to make a trail of kisses down the tender, fair skin of her jaw line. She moved her hands to his chest and began to undo the buttons that lined the front of his plaid shirt.

She pushed the material over his shoulders and it floated softly to the ground, landing noiselessly. Her hands skimmed over his broad shoulders, feeling the overused muscles under her delicate fingers.

He pulled her closer burying his head in the crook of her neck, splaying kisses from her jaw to her collar bone. His hand moved up her back, underneath the thinning material of her shirt. Gliding over the soft skin on her back, eliciting goose bumps. He slowly moved back from Kate, and reached for the bottom of her top.

Kate's hand reached out and grabbed him by the wrist, "Shouldn't we go somewhere a little less inconspicuous?" she questioned lightly, while leaning her body against his.

"Yeah," was all he could utter before she was kissing fervently again.

His hands wrapped around her waist while her wrapped around his neck and it wasn't long before her legs were wrapped around his body and he was carrying her back to his cave.

Her hands moved lightly over the strong muscles in his chest and he reached forward, capturing her lips again, tangling his hand in her hair that felt velvety, her lips inviting, her eyes loving.

He moved his hand down once again and successfully lifted her top above her head, throwing it to the side of the cave. He dipped his head down, laying kisses in lines from her neck to the hollow between her breasts leading to her stomach.

Kate's breathe hitched as his hands stealthily and skillfully undid the buckle on her belt that held her blue jeans up. He unzipped her pants and slid them down slowly, almost to be pestering.

The stubble growing on his face scratched as he continued to kiss, until Kate pulled him back up, kissing him passionately as she reached down for his belt buckle. Her hands were less experienced then his, but that was partly from the fact that Jack had been preoccupying her by giving her what her mother would've called a 'love bite' on the side of her neck.

Finally she managed to rip the belt out from the loops in Jack's pants, and made quick work with undoing them. Their lips never left each other, never ceasing their frenzy of frenetic kisses.

His hand slipped over her stomach, fingertips spread apart, dragging, tickling, concocting goose bumps on her skin where the phantom presence of his fingers still lingered.

His hands slinked up her stomach and over her breasts, to her shoulders where he slid down the straps of her bra, spreading kisses over her shoulder as he slowly moved on top of her, one of his hands traveled to her back, working at the clasp of her bra, the other to her neck as his bombardment of kisses never stopped.

The clasp finally gave and the article of clothing was flung to the opposite side of the cave. Jack held her close, feeling the sheer pleasure of her skin against his. The remainders of their undergarments were shed rather quickly as the moonlight outside became pale and welcomed the new day.

* * *

Kate awoke against Jack's chest, the gently 'lub-dub' of his heart soothing her in her sleep. She adjusted and pulled the blanket over her bare shoulder, mornings in the caves were colder then the beach. 

_The beach!_ Her eyes shot open and she jolted awake, looking outside she could already see the early morning light creeping into the dank cave. She quickly glanced around the caves, trying to pinpoint where all articles of her clothing were.

After putting on her undergarments she quickly found her blue jeans, hurriedly pulling them on. Then desolation struck her, she couldn't find her top. Her eyes crawled over the cave, scanning each jagged rock.

Her eyes came to Jack. He was sleeping sideways now, his back to her. She smiled, then noticed the white, purple and blue pinstriped shirt sticking out from underneath him.

"Jack," she whispered as she frantically tried to pull the shirt out from underneath him, "Jack, I need my shirt," she replied as she leaned over and placed a solitary kiss on the side of his cheek.

"Hmmm?" he mumbled as he turned over. The shirt became free and Kate fell back with her strength pulling on it. With the crash Jack got up, "Are you okay?' he asked as he extended a hand to her to help her up.

"Yeah," she replied as she took it. Jack watched her as she placed her top back on and starting fastening the buttons, "I'm going back to the beach," she disclosed as she attempted to make her hair look somewhat presentable.

"Oh," Jack said quietly as he began to redress himself.

"I just think I should get down there before anyone notices that I'm gone," she explained as she handed Jack his pants, "They might get worried over nothing," she replied.

Jack sighed, "Just imagine how they're going to feel when you're on the raft?" he replied as he pulled his pants on and did them up.

She smiled, it wasn't a large one, but it was comforting, "I'm not going Jack," she explained as she grabbed his hand, "You gave me a reason to stay."

He grinned and pulled her into him, kissing her passionately. She smiled as he nuzzled her hair, "Kate?" he questioned.

"Yeah?" she asked, completely relaxed.

"Have you seen my shirt?" he questioned.

Kate laughed, "You left it out by the fire," she exclaimed as she stood up, her pants almost falling from around her hips, "Have you seen my belt?"

* * *

Later that day Kate explained to Michel that she couldn't leave on his raft, that she'd do everyone better if she stayed here and helped out. Michael nodded his head in understanding and later the spot was filled by an all too willing man named Brian who had experience sailing and could navigate. 

Kate stood on the beach, among all the survivors. They watched as the utilitarian, yet well made raft set sail into the morning light. Claire held her baby as Charlie wrapped an arm around her shoulders; Sun leaned against Jin glad that he had decided to stay. Even Shannon had edged over to Sayid, seemingly forgiving him about the shenanigans of earlier that week.

Kate stood in the sand lone, waving to Sawyer as he waved to her. She smiled weakly, and was suddenly startled when something grabbed her hand. She looked over and found Jack standing beside her, she looked down at her hand ensconced in Jack's, then back up in his eyes.

He smiled, a twinkle flashed in his eyes, and he gripped Kate's hand tighter. She smiled and squeezed back, their sign of affection muddled and drowned out by the hysteria of the raft leaving

And there they stood, watching as the raft became smaller and smaller until it was a tiny dot on the line of the horizon. The crowd had dwindled down and now Kate and Jack stood solitary, their minds wandering about what could have happened and what lay before them.

He leaned over and placed a silent, gentle kiss on her lips as she smiled, "I'm glad you stayed," he divulged as he swept a piece of her hair out of her face.

She nodded, her eyes shining, "Me too."

_

* * *

And there you have it, how to write a mack it story. Lol actually it sucked. I know but you know what? I don't care. Alright enough with the ramblings   
Ethan: Thank god  
Hey Shut up, anyways me and one of my buddies (WE HEART YOU JADE!)  
Ethan: YEAH! HEART YOU JADE!  
Are making a new story together (you might remember that we made Dear Diary together) But this one is dramatically different. The basis of it, is the outline of the novel by Stephen King "The Stand" Instead of being stuck on an island, all the survivors are in Australia (Which is ironically an island…) but their the survivors of a plague that wipes out 99.2 of the people on Earth. And lets say that most of them won't make it through to the end. Full of character death and weird shippings (you guys'll be like WTF!) I definitely recommend reading it. One chapter will be written by me using one/some of my characters then the next chapter will be written by Jade.  
And FYI I got Sayid, Sun, (hopefully Boone), And because I know you guys love it when I get them JACK AND KATE! And to let you know a LOT of them won't have a lot of ummm 'page time.' Because they will be axed rather quickly._


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